The Chairman, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Mr Kashim Ali, has called for the scrapping of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) as part of steps to bring sanity to the power sector.
Ali, who made the call in an interview with newsmen in Lagos said, NERC should be scrapped and its functions be transferred to the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Authority to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and ensure effective management.
The COREN boss also attributed the failures recorded in the country in managing the critical sector to the use of wrong people in important position even when the nation has huge human capacity to manage affairs.
“In the power sector, which is one of the areas of our economy that we have huge challenges, if you trace it back over the years, you will notice that the leadership of that sector had always been in the wrong hands,” he said, noting that it was only during a brief period that the minister of power was an engineer.
He also cited the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) whose duty is to construct National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) all over the country, but headed by an accountant.
“To regulate any professional process, you need to be trained in that area. But in our case, who is doing it? A lawyer, and you say there should be no crisis in the power sector, there will be crisis.”
“The crisis is there and you will continue to have it magnified until the right thing is done. So why waste our resources in putting people in areas in which they have no competence,” he maintained.
He blamed the government for being largely responsible for the crisis facing most sectors of the country because they use wrong persons for critical positions and equally seek the advice of wrong persons and noted that until the trend is changed, the result might not change.